Life After Mastermind

TV Quiz Watch


Battle of the Brains , BBC Two Monday - Friday 6pm

This is the last week of The Battle of the Brains. I would really like to say that it has been getting better. However this would be an utter lie. My friends, the Ant Hill Mob lost out on Monday. Not because they were beaten however. No , the team captain, Gary , was given two stinkers for his team to choose from. It didn't matter which one the team chose, since he didn't know the answer to either of them.


What some of them have told me since is that they had been so badly treated by the production company they were seriously considering boycotting the next show if they had gone through.


My final thoughts about this show are that its an opportunity missed.

Positives : -

I love the fact that they have tried their hardest to entice great teams to take part.

Its one of the cheapest shows on television - which must make it an attractive proposition to the BBC

However they have never really given the teams a chance to show how good they are. If a team like The Clayheads can have 3 or 4 goes at getting the money, and fail, then its just too difficult.

I dislike some of the head to head battles they use.

Frankly the format is overcomplicated - and as we've seen in the past, overcomplicated quizzes don't often get a second series.

I predict that when it comes to an end tomorrow it will leave our screens for good,unmourned and unmissed.

Sport Mastermind Grand Final Wednesday BBC Two 7pm
If you'll pardon the pun there was a grandstand finish to the series tonight. Des Lynham returned to form, looking thoroughly at ease, and for once sounding interested in the show. A couple of points separated all 6 of the contenders after the specialist subject round. However, in Mastermind its a case of Specialist for show, and General for dough, as Chris Bell romped away from the pack to score a grand total of 32, winning by the impressive margin of 4 points. Delighted to see that he received a proper Mastermind glass bowl too - having one myself I think they're much nicer than the trophies they give for Junior Mastermind or Celebrity Mastermind.

Will it return next year ? I can only hope so.

The Weakest Link - Monday-Friday BBC One 5:15pmYou've seen one, you've seen them all. I noticed tonight that the programme is now 45 minutes long. Yet there's no more questions than when it was 30 minutes. All the more time for nonsense from La Robinson. Well and good if you like that sort of thing . I don't. Still, for the third week running, at least the show provides us with the

Daftest Answer of the Week

Question : - The American tennis player born in 1955 with the first names James Connors is usually known by which first name ?


Answer : - André

University Challenge BBC Two Monday 7:30pm
Selwyn College Cambridge took on St. Anne's College Oxford. I'll be honest, while I nearly always really enjoy the show, I have to say that an Oxford v. Cambridge match up rarely lights my candle. Call it inverted snobbery if you like. Still, a good show. Despite myself I always find myself amazed at the ease with which some of these students answer imponderable, and even interminable science questions. Here's an interesting thought. By the end of the show I hardly know anything more about any of the contestants than I did at the start of the show. Is it any worse for this ? I venture to say not, IMHO. Devisors of other quiz show formats please take note.